What's the quilting equivalent of burpees?

In a recent post about my fabric "problem", I & several people who commented to the post, made a parallel between fabric acquisition & usage to health & fitness.

Easy -- if you want to diminish your amount of fabric/lose weight, use more/burn more fabric/calories than you buy/eat.
Well, easy in concept.

I've been wishing for a quilter's version of Jillian Michaels, someone over my shoulder at the sewing machine shouting, "Give it to me! Give it to me! Give it to me!" to help keep me on track with piecing & quilting. (Not really. That wouldn't be stressful at all, would it?) These days I'm having real trouble sitting & focusing for long on anything, that includes my patchwork. I've been making the effort to spend time each day on my Physical Fitness. So to attain Fabric Fitness, I need to dedicate a similar amount most days to cutting/piecing/quilting.

After my workouts with dvd Jillian (which do include burpees) I'm trying to get together with a sewing machine, iron or rotary cutter & spend serious time plowing through fabric. This weekend I added to my pile of self-made quilt kits -- strips, squares & triangles for donation quilts. I also cut some strips for a project to keep. And I basted 2 quilts (one is already quilted!).
Not too shabby!

"Intention! Power!! Push yourself!!! Don't phone it in!!!!!"

The Flow

finished quilt -- about 70 x 84 inches
fabrics -- Denyse Schmidt's Florence & Kona natural
machine pieced & quilted

A very bad day -- and trying to learn from it

I think I've mentioned before that my Mother taught me to sew.

I don't really remember any details of being taught, mostly I remember the products: Pepper's skirt & blouse (I remember learning the lazy daisy embroidery stitch, being fascinated by the name), a dirndl skirt made with Black Watch plaid (another intriguing name). It feels like I've always sewn, the lessons were so easy & effortless that they didn't feel like learning.



I do recall the times I was sewing on my own, when I would hit some "tragic" snag -- a badly done zipper, an eased seam that wouldn't fit, an accidentally snipped hole. I would be ready to ball it up & put it in the trash, probably did this more than once. But my Mom would gather up my project & patiently, methodically fix my failure & return it to me as good as new or nearly so.

She was never a quilter, so I don't know that she would have been able to fix my latest failure.
I finally finished my Denyse Schmit's Florence top, pieced together a back & was ready to sandwich & baste. I usually do this outside but it had threatened rain all day. I usually do this early in the day but by the time I had gotten the top & back ready it was evening. I usually have Shug help me but he was busy with his own stuff so I didn't ask. So I did it on my own, a little tired, in a cramped space & ended up with a bubble-y, pleat-y mess. I wadded it up & walked away. 

 

Had it not been 8:00 Sunday evening, I would have called Goodwill to come get all my fabric & machines because I was FINISHED with quilting.

A new day brought a clearer head. I not-so-patiently (patience: not my strong suit),  methodically & with Shug's help fixed my failure. ('Good as new' remains to be seen.)

 

I miss her like crazy but my Mom is still teaching me.